A needle sticks out of a mini Aero chocolate bar on Jaime Hoy’s kitchen countertop. Her 10 year old daughter found it, after trick or treating in Seaforth, Saturday night. “So Sunday afternoon, Brooklyn and her dad were going through her candy, and she was about to eat the Aero bar. When she opened it up, and broke it in half, she saw the needle sticking out. She came in running, saying what she’d found,” said the Kippen area mother. Hoy says she was shocked. She’d heard of needles found in Halloween candy, but not in Huron County. “I was scared. I automatically got to the other parents of the two other children that came with us trick or treating, and called them. Then I called the OPP,” said Hoy. After posting a warning about what she’d found in her daughter’s candy on Facebook, she found she wasn’t alone. Parents reported finding needles in candy in Goderich, Vanastra, and Mitchell. “I’ve heard of at least four or five in our area. My inbox is overflowing with needles and candies right now,” said Hoy. Tamara Lewis’ brother found a needle in his daughter’s Halloween candy while packing her lunch, Monday morning. “We’re not sure, if it was tampered with by an individual or if it happened at the manufacturing company. But either way, it’s happening. Halloween is supposed to be a fun holiday for kids, and it’s turning out to not be so fun,” said Lewis. Similar warnings about tampered Halloween Candy were issued in St. Thomas, Lasalle, and Hamilton. Hoy doesn’t believe the candy was tampered with by those handing it out. “Somebody definitely put it in, but I don’t think it was from our community. I think that it was put in either during packaging or some other way. We know the places that we went and they’re all familiar. And, from all the other places being involved, I just don’t think that you can say that it’s a community problem,” she said. Along with contacting the OPP, Hoy says she’s contacted the candy maker, who has asked for information including pictures, and package barcodes. Hoy says it’s certainly troubling, and has her 10 year old daughter reconsidering whether this was her last Halloween collecting candy. “It’s not just happening in big cities anymore. It’s happening in small towns, and it could happen to anybody,” said Lewis.
